ISAB. Why, as all comforts are; most good in deed : Lord Angelo, having affairs to heav'n,

Intends you for his fwift ambassador;

Where you shall be an everlasting leiger.
Therefore your best appointment make with speed,
To-morrow you

fet on.

CLAUD. Is there no remedy ?

ISAB. None, but fuch Remedy, as, to save a head,
To cleave a heart in twain,

CLAUD. But is there any?

ISAB. Yes, brother, you may live :

There is a devilish mercy in the judge,

If you'll implore it, that will free your life,
But fetter you 'till death.

CLAUD. Perpetual durance?

ISAB. Ay juft; perpetual durance; a restraint,
Tho' all the world's vaftidity you had,

To a determin'd scope.

CLAUD. But in what nature?

ISAB. In fuch a one, as you, confenting to't,

Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear, And leave you naked.

CLAUD. Let me know the point,

ISAB. Oh, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake,
Left thou a fev'rous life should'ft entertain,

And fix or seven winters more refpe&t
Than a perpetual honour. Dar'ft thou die?
The fenfe of death is most in apprehenfion;
And the poor beetle that we tread upon,
In corp'ral fufferance finds a pang as great,
As when a giant dies.

CLAUD. Why give you me this fhame ?

Think you, I can a refolution fetch
From flowery tenderness? if I must die,

I will encounter darkness as a bride,

And hug it in mine arms.

ISA B. There fpake my brother; there my father's grave Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou muft die :

Thou art too noble to conferve a life

In base appliances. This outward-fainted deputy,
Whose settled vifage and delib'rate word
Nips youth i'th' head; and follies doth emmew,
As faulcon doth the fowl; is yet a devil :
His filth within being caft, he would appear,
A pond as deep as hell.

CLAUD. The princely Angelo?

ISA B. Oh, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'ft body to inveft and cover

In princely guards. Doft thou think, Claudio,

If I would yield him my virginity,

Thou might'ft be freed?

CLAUD. Oh, heavens! it cannot be.

ISAB. Yes, he would give't thee for this rank offence,

So to offend him ftill. This night's the time
That I fhould do what I abhor to name,

Or else thou dy'ft to-morrow.

CLAUD. Thou shalt not do't.

ISAB. Oh, were it but my life,

I'd throw it down for your deliverance
As frankly as a pin.

CLAUD. Thanks, deareft Ifabel.

ISAB. Be ready, Claudio, for your death to-morrow.
CLAUD. Yes. Has he affections in him,

That thus can make him bite the law by th' nofe,

When he would force it? fure it is no fin;
Or of the deadly feven it is the least.
ISAB. Which is the leaft?

CLAUD. If it were damnable, he being fo wife,

Why would he for the momentary trick

Be perdurably fin'd? oh, Isabel!

ISAB. What fays my brother?
CLAUD. Death's a fearful thing.

ISAB. And fhameful life a hateful.

CLAUD. Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;

To lye in cold obftruction and to rot;

This fenfible warm motion to become
A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods, or to refide
In thrilling regions of thick-ribb'd ice
To be imprifon'd in the viewless winds,
And blown with restlefs violence round about
The pendant world; or to be worse than worst
Of those that lawless and incertain thoughts
Imagine howling; 'tis too horrible!
The wearieft and most loathed worldly life,
That age, ach, penury, imprisonment
Can lay on nature, is a paradise

To what we fear of death.

ISAB. Alas! alas!

CLAUD. Sweet fifter, let me live;

What fin you do to save a brother's life,
Nature difpenfes with the deed fo far,
That it becomes a virtue.

ISAB. Oh, you beast!

Oh, faithlefs coward! oh, dishonest wretch !
Wilt thou be made a man, out of my vice?

Is't not a kind of inceft, to take life

From thine own fifter's fhame? what fhould I think?
Heav'n grant, my mother plaid my father fair!
For fuch a warped flip of wilderness

Ne'er iffu'd from his blood. Take my defiance,
Die, perish! might my only bending down
Reprieve thee from thy fate, it should proceed.
I'll pray a thousand prayers for thy death;
No word to fave thee.

CLAUD. Nay, hear me, Isabel.
ISAB. Oh, fie, fie, fie!

Thy fin's not accidental, but a trade;

Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd; 'Tis beft, that thou dy'st quickly.

CLAUD. Oh hear me,

Ifabel.

SCENE

III.

To them, enter Duke and Provost.

DUKE. Vouchsafe a word, young fifter; but one word.

ISAB. What is your will?

DUKE. Might you dispense with your leisure, I would by and by have some speech with you; the fatisfaction I would require, is likewise your own benefit.

ISAB. I have no fuperfluous leifure; my ftay must be stolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you a while. DUKE. [To Claudio afide.] Son, I have over-heard what hath paft between you and your fifter: Angelo had never the purpose to corrupt her; only he hath made an affay of her virtue, to practise his judgment with the difpofition of natures. She, having the truth of honour in her, hath made him that gracious denial, which he is most glad to receive: I am confeffor to Angelo, and I know this to be true;

therefore prepare yourself to death. Do not fatisfy your refolution with hopes that are fallible; to-morrow you must die; go to your knees, and make ready.

CLAUD. Let me afk my fifter pardon. I am so out of love with life, that I will fue to be rid of it.

[Exit Claud. DUKE. Hold you there; farewel. Provoft, a word with

you.

PROV. What's your will, father?

DUKE. That now you are come, you will be gone. Leave me a while with the maid: my mind promifes with my habit, no lofs fhall touch her by my company.

PROV. In good time.

[Exit Prov.

DUKE. The hand, that hath made you fair, hath made you good; the goodness, that is cheap in beauty, makes beauty brief in goodness; but grace, being the foul of your complexion, shall keep the body of it ever fair. The asfault, that Angelo hath made on you, fortune hath convey'd to my understanding; and but that frailty hath examples for his falling, I fhould wonder at Angelo. How will you do to content this substitute, and to fave your brother? ISAB. I am now going to refolve him. I had rather my brother die by the law, than my fon should be unlawfully born. But, oh, how much is the good Duke deceiv'd in Angelo? If ever he return, and I can speak to him, I will open my lips in vain, or difcover his government. DUKE. That shall not be much amifs; yet as the matter now stands, he will avoid your accufation. -He made tryal of you only.- -Therefore faften your ear on my advifings. To the love I have in doing good, a remedy prefents itself. I do make myself believe, that you may most uprightly do a poor wronged lady a merited benefit; redeem your brother from the angry law; do no ftain to your own